African Americans have made important contributions to the history and culture of the United States. They had long been denied a rightful share of the United States' economic, social, and political advancement. African Americans are mostly the descendants of enslaved individuals who were forcibly removed from their African homelands to labor in the New World.
Americans of African heritage appraised their identities as they fought for equality. Because the slaveholder labels of black and negro were objectionable, when they were freed, they used the euphemism "colored." In the twenty-first century, the labels "black" and "African American" were commonly employed.
